A Note on the Psychology of the Inventor

In order to comprehend the forces which may lead to an inventive or artistic form of expression, the manner in which the pleasure principle has been utilized in creating an artistic expression should be investigated. Freud has said: "Art brings about a reconciliation of the two principles in a peculiar way. The artist is originally a man who turns from reality because he cannot come to terms with the demand for renunciation of instinctual satisfaction as it is first made, and who then in fantasy life allows full play to his erotic and ambitious wishes. But he finds a way of return from this world of fantasy back to reality; with his special gifts he moulds his fantasies into a new kind of reality, and men concede them a justification as valuable reflections of actual life. Thus by a certain path he actually becomes a hero, king, creator, favorite he desired to be, without pursuing the circuitous path of creating real alterations in the outer world…"

Psychoanalysis has taught us that the symptoms of a neurosis serve the purpose of relieving repressed sexual desires which have nevertheless remained active in the unconscious. In the case here presented, we may see how activity, accomplishment and invention existed jointly with neurotic symptoms and tended at times to replace them. The case also illustrates the wellknown fact that in every neurosis the early childhood sexual impulses, in all their original uncompromising power, strive for the primary aim, namely, union with the original love-object. Inhibited, these strivings express themselves symbolically. Inventive ability may be considered one of these symbolic expressions.

Our patient was talented in many respects. He wrote short